Lady Laugherty's Loves Read Online Free PDF Page A

be
frank, Lady Laugherty?” 
    “Olivia,” she corrected. “And I’d
expect no less.”
    “They’re waging a war against your
sensibilities. The two of them.” She sat back against the high
backed chair and regarded Olivia stoically.
    Heat crept up Olivia’s neck. “I beg
your pardon?” she croaked out.  Someone had noticed? Someone
was aware of her situation? Of her husband’s odd desire to share
her with his best friend? Of her very real feelings for said best
friend?
    “There is no pleasure quite as great
as what they propose to offer you. But only if you wish it. And you
must wish it for yourself. You cannot want it for them, because
they want it. You have to want it in your heart and in your soul or
you will regret it. And regret makes for a nasty bedfellow.” She
winked at Olivia. “I’m certain you’d prefer your bedfellows to be a
little more pleasurable.”
    Olivia’s voice only cracked a little
when she replied, “Does everyone know?” She’d have to send them all
home. Every last one of them. Even Ellis. If anyone found out about
it, they’d all be ruined. They would become
unrespectable.
    “I know because I
know them ,” Lady
Southerby admitted. 
    Olivia choked on her tea.
    Lady Southerby just looked at her
quietly as she found her breath. “You know them?” Olivia finally
found enough wits to ask.
    “Not them specifically, Olivia. But I
know men like them.” She didn’t flush or blush or stammer at all as
she continued. “My own husband is like them. As is his best
friend.”
    “And you…?” Olivia couldn’t even voice
it.
    Lady Southerby shrugged. “I love them
both. I admit it freely. In closed circles, of course, in places
where I feel safe.  I’m safe with you, aren’t I,
Olivia?”
    “Absolutely,” Olivia blurted out.
She’d never breathe a word of it.
    “I remember when my husband brought up
the idea. My upbringing made me fight it with all that I am and all
that I have. But, in the end, I couldn’t keep rejecting the love
they both offered so freely.” She shrugged, a smile upon her face.
“I am proud to have two men in my life who love me and will take
care of me, no matter what. I will always be safe, as will our
children.”
    Olivia thought back to the little girl
who’d streaked down the hallway. “Who is her father?”
    “They both are.”
    Olivia must have looked as dumbfounded
as she felt. “I have overstepped my bounds,” Lady Southerby said as
she leaned forward and placed a hand on Olivia’s knee.  “And
you have much to think about, so I’ll leave you to it.”
    A scream sounded from the corridor.
“It appears as though they’ve found my daughter’s ferret,” she said
with a laugh. Then she slid her feet back into her slippers and
ducked out the door as quickly as she’d arrived.
    Olivia raised her hand to her mouth
and nibbled her fingernails. Lady Southerby had two lovers. And
wasn’t ashamed to discuss it. A most delicious shiver crept up
Olivia’s spine.

Four
    Olivia reclined in Avery’s arms, his
rock hard shaft against her naked back.  He’d been hard most
of the evening, even before they’d left the revelers downstairs.
Even before he’d started to whisper in her ear about the gothic
novel he’d picked out for her pleasure. He fluffed the bedclothes
around them and reached to the bedside table to retrieve the book.
“Read to me,” he said as he poured her another glass of wine. She
was a bit foxed. But not completely.
    “Now?” She couldn’t keep the pout from
her voice if she tried. She’d been on the edge of her seat the
entire day, her undergarments soaked with desire more often than
not. She simply could not get enough of him, not since he and Ellis
had began their sensual assault.
    “Don’t be so impatient,” he teased as
he tweaked her nose. “Read,” he prompted, with a nudge of his
knees.
    Olivia grunted with displeasure but
she opened the book and began to read.  The gothic tales that
Avery bought